Family Album: Photographs by Pierre Tartoue features 22 black and white photographs by French photographer Pierre Tartoue.

From the late 1930s to early 1950s, Tartoue traveled in Oklahoma, painting and producing photographs that would capture what was deemed a “vanishing race.” What he witnessed instead was a tremendous renaissance in American Indian communities made possible by strong multi-generation American Indian families.

Tartoue’s photographs represent a tribal family album — images of young mothers with their newborns, grandparents sharing their culture with the new generation, and the emergence of a new leadership within the tribes and intertribal communities. Their vibrant energy tells a story of survival and triumph in an era of depression and war, reminding viewers of the strength and resilience needed to keep moving forward.

Curated by the Oklahoma History Center of the Oklahoma Historical Society and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.